6 Reasons Why I Thought I Wouldn’t Use Athena AI
Hi everyone! My name is Anora, the newest member of CollegePlannerPro’s team dedicated to Athena AI. Up until this role, I have worked directly in education; I taught AP English in Los Angeles high schools, and then I moved into college access work with first-generation high school students applying to college. After building a practice as an IEC with Headed for College, I found my way to Athena through CollegePlannerPro.
I came into this role with a lot of questions and hesitations about an AI tool that deals with personal essay writing. Here were my 6 biggest flags and how I worked through them.
1. I don’t like the idea of compromising my students’ data.
This is the first question I asked when looking into Athena. Student privacy is one of the first things I think about when it comes to AI and student work, and college essays are full of sensitive, personal information. Sending that into the void of the internet felt like a breach of trust. But I quickly learned that Athena puts student data safety first.
Users retain full ownership of any content inputted into the platform, and Athena only gets temporary permission to read the specific essay you share. It's like giving someone a key that only opens one desk drawer, not a master key to the whole house.
Most importantly to me: Athena does not train itself on student data. Even the big tech companies providing the underlying intelligence (like OpenAI) are legally barred from keeping or using student essays for training when submitted through Athena. It's like showing a draft to a teacher: they read it, give suggestions, and then "forget" the specifics so your child's ideas don't end up in someone else's essay.
Ultimately, student data is stored in independently-audited, ultra-secure data centers that meet the world's toughest security and privacy standards.
2. Why wouldn’t I just use something like ChatGPT?
If you're using a free general AI tool, or even building your own without a full understanding of data training, security becomes a real risk. None of the protections I described above apply. Your student's information goes out into the internet ether, where it can be used to train other AI models and could even flag your student for plagiarism down the line (see reason #3).
Beyond privacy, there's the quality question. Athena was built on feedback from IECs and Admissions Officers, so when it's reviewing a draft, it's essentially consulting that expertise to push the essay further.
General AI scrapes the whole internet (Reddit and all) for insights on the Personal Statement. Athena works from an extensively trained “rubric” instead. For more on how that workflow was developed, see #4.
3. Won’t they get flagged for using AI?
This question is top of mind for everyone this application cycle. The consequences are massive, and universities are constantly changing (and even creating) their AI guidelines in real time. At this year’s IECA annual conference, we heard from admissions leaders at top universities who confirmed the fact that universities are scrambling.
Good news: Athena will not get your student flagged. A few reasons why:
First, it doesn't write the essay for them. Athena's feedback is just that: feedback – as comments. Even the Word Cutter tool (honestly a life-saver) doesn't rewrite anything; it just looks for the same things we do: contractions, repetitive sentences, passive voice, irrelevant phrases. Your student's essay won't get flagged because Athena hasn't written any of it.
Second, the closed-domain element protects your students on a technical level too (see #2). When you input a draft into a general AI tool, it can become public domain: part of the massive body of work that AI detectors scan. That means after your student submits their final essay, they could get flagged for plagiarizing themselves. Because Athena doesn't train on or share student data, that situation simply can't happen.
In human words, putting an essay into a general AI tool is like writing your ideas on a public chalkboard. Eventually, someone else might walk by and use those same words. Using Athena is like putting your essay into a private, high-security vault: a specialized tutor comes in, gives advice, and is legally required to "forget" the specifics the moment they leave. Your student's work stays 100% theirs.
4. My student is not applying to a top 30 school, so why would I use a tool trained on essays to the most selective colleges?
Honestly, this was a big one for me. But here's the thing: Athena isn't solely trained on the essays themselves. While essays were sampled from top schools, the tool was actually trained on the feedback that IECs and Admissions Officers gave to those essays. After consulting essay-reviewing professionals, Athena developed a 60-point workflow that mimics the mental process a human counselor goes through when reviewing a draft.
Think of a championship basketball coach. They're not trying to make every player a clone of a past legend; every player has a different style! Instead, they've internalized what great coaching looks like and use that to push each player toward their own excellence. They're not thinking, "Be Michael Jordan." They're thinking, "Your footwork here is a bit slow," or "You need to scan the floor more."
Athena works the same way. Its 60-point workflow ensures the final essay is never "AI-generated" or recycled; it's the student's own authentic voice, refined by the same logic, comments, and feedback an elite counselor (like yourself) would use.
5. AI has created a standardized writing voice. Won’t it just push my students to sound like everyone else?
As a former English teacher, I'm incredibly wary of anything that flattens individuality. But when I logged onto Athena for the first time, I realized quickly this isn't an issue.
Athena will never rewrite a student's essay. It provides comments that guide the student toward a stronger draft, and you stay in control of what feedback gets exported. You can edit, remove, or add anything you like.
Even better, the feedback is specifically targeted to the content of the essay you feed it. In the supplemental essays feature, for example, Athena can identify when a prompt is asking the classic "Why Us?" question and knows (based on feedback from IECs and AOs) that the response needs to show genuine, specific research. For a student applying to UW–Madison who wrote about being first-generation, raising her younger siblings, and pursuing veterinary medicine, Athena offered this:
Multicultural Student Center (MSC): The MSC offers support, advocacy, and co-curricular experiences that center, affirm, and celebrate the varied and intersectional experiences of all UW students. (msc.wisc.edu) Including this could demonstrate your commitment to fostering inclusivity and community engagement at UW–Madison.
One Health Initiative: This interdisciplinary group brings together students from various fields, including veterinary medicine and business, to address global health challenges affecting people, animals, plants, and the environment. (cipe.wisc.edu) Mentioning this could highlight your interest in collaborative, cross-disciplinary approaches to complex issues.
And you can edit comments too. Think this is a place where they can talk about the MSC at Wisconsin and tie that into their work with their high school's AAPI club? Simply add that to Athena's suggestion and click save.
Athena reads your students' drafts and constructs feedback that helps them represent the best version of themselves. It's not pushing one single mold; it meets your students where they are and helps you help them dive deeper.
6. Is this tool going to make my job obsolete?
As an IEC who specializes in essay writing, this was a major question for me. This concern is one that’s plaguing so many industries. The fear of AI taking our jobs gets more complicated every day.
But here's what I've realized: Athena isn't replacing us. It's helping us do exactly what we already do, just a bit faster and with less burnout. Because we get to "window-shop" for the feedback, our expertise stays in the driver's seat. Used with intention, it means we can serve more students without sacrificing quality.
It's even made me better at giving feedback. Each review pass is the equivalent of consulting an army of IECs and their bank of feedback. When Athena generates a comment I wouldn't have thought of (or even one I flat-out disagree with) it sharpens my thinking. It makes me pause to question where my own blind spots might be.
Most generative AI is known for making us more complacent. Athena keeps me more alert. Stay tuned for another post that explores how I came to discover that!
Are you as skeptical as I was?
Honestly, I hope so. That means you are thinking deeply about how you want to run your business.
The questions above are the exact questions I asked before joining the Athena team. The only thing that ultimately changed my mind was seeing the tool in action.
Take Athena for a spin with a free 10-day trial and see what you think. Use past student essays, explore the feedback, and decide for yourself whether it’s a helpful addition to your process.
Try Athena free for 10 days and see if you’re still a skeptic on day 11.